As described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,340,930; 6,364,499; 7,021,784; 7,837,580; 7,927,240; 7,931,550; and 7,993,224, what is shown is the utilization of lighted nocks to find an arrow once it has been fired. Note further that a related case U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/101,137, now published as U.S. 2012/0100942, also describes a prior art nock light and assembly.
In addition to the above-mentioned patents there is a product brand called Nockturnal™ manufactured by the Assignee hereof in which a lighted nock is actuated upon firing to inject light into the nock itself.
The problem is there is insufficient light to be able to see the nock under all conditions, especially for instance when the arrow goes into a leaf pile. The reason is that the light from these nocks are primarily transferred out the back of the nock and not significantly from the side.
Thus, in the past lighted nocks have been visible from the rear but not from the side and when they end up in the forest under leaves and the like they are often not retrievable because they cannot be seen from any distance, especially when the nock itself is obscured.
It will be appreciated that in the prior art nock lights include an LED assembly and battery which is secured within the arrow shaft or bolt in which the LED light has a hemispherical dome projecting into the transparent nock. In several of the abovementioned patents the light is turned on or activated when the bow string presses against a plunger or pin which forces the LED assembly into contact with battery contacts to turn on the nock light. Other methods of turning the LED on also exist in prior art such as incorporating an accelerometer, or other subassembly motion caused by the string motion; all of which could be used with the innovations in this patent application to produce lighted fletchings.